Billionaires, Bad Boys, and Alpha Males (148 page)

A few minutes later, she went swimming,
and then flopped onto the beach and lay down, dozing a little as the surf
roared in her ears.

“Hello?” an accented voice called out
from nearby.

Nicole started, opening her eyes.
 
Had she been sleeping?
 
She didn’t even know.
 
She looked up to see a small man dressed
in the resort uniform, along with a tall woman standing at the door to the
bungalow, knocking and calling out.

Nicole got up, brushing sand from her
arms and legs.
 
“Hi, can I help you
with something?” she asked, jogging over to them.

The man, who must have been a porter, was
holding a bunch of dark, long bags that were taller than he was.
 
His arm strained to keep them from
dragging on the ground.
 
Beside him,
a tall, extremely thin woman had another large bag over her shoulder.
 

“Miss Masters?” the woman asked in a
smooth, cultured voice.

“Yes?”

“I’ve been instructed to help you prepare
for your wedding today.”

“You have?”

The little man was straining to keep the
bags from dragging.
 
“I would like
to put these down somewhere safe.”

“Of course, come in.”
 
Nicole opened the door and let them into
the room.
 
“Sorry for the mess,” she
said.

The porter put the bags down on the bed
and the woman tipped him something that must have been fairly generous, because
he got a huge, white toothed smile on his face.
 
“Congratulations, Miss,” he said to
Nicole.
 
“Good luck today!”

He hurried out the door.

“I’m really confused,” Nicole said.
 
“Red didn’t tell me that anyone would be
coming by to help me get ready.
 
In
fact, he’s out trying to see if we even can get a license to marry.”

The woman smiled patiently.
 
“My name is Liz Eastman.”
 
She held out her hand for Nicole to
shake.

“Your name sounds vaguely familiar.”

“Those are my dresses,” she said, nodding
to the bags on the bed.
 

Nicole gasped.
 
“You’re
the
Liz Eastman?”

She’d heard of Liz’s clothing line, of
course, but her brain had been too surprised to put two and two together.
 
Liz Eastman was the designer of East End
Fashion, and her dresses had been worn by the likes of Katy Perry and Rachel
McAdams.
 

Liz Eastman was a huge name in the
fashion world, and Nicole couldn’t believe that she’d come all the way out to
Belize to personally help style Nicole for her wedding.

“So, we don’t have time for much
talking,” Liz said, getting down to business.
 
“We need to look at these dresses and
see if we can get you fitted properly.”

Liz walked to the bed and began unzipping
the bags, taking the dresses out and hanging them in a nearby closet.
 
Once they were all hanging, Liz and
Nicole discussed which ones she should try on.

All of the gowns were exquisite.
 

Nicole had never even tried on something
as expensive or beautiful as one of these gowns—which surely must have
cost thousands and thousands of dollars.

She couldn’t believe Red had thought of
this for their wedding.
 
It made her
so happy that he’d gone the extra mile—more than that, he’d brought
someone halfway across the world for her.

Nicole first tried on a strapless, lace
wedding dress.
 
When she had it on,
Liz made her turn around a few times and then began muttering and pulling it in
different places.
 
“This is quite
beautiful on you,” Liz said.
 
“But
we can do better, I think.”

Next, she had Nicole try on an ivory
tiered, silk gown that was like putting on a cloud.
 
Everything was soft and flowing and
Nicole actually said, “I feel like a princess in this,” which was the cheesiest
thing she’d ever uttered aloud.
 
Not
to mention, she’d said it in the presence of one of the most amazing designers
on the planet.

That was one of the more embarrassing
moments of her life to date.

But the third time was truly a charm; a
simple column wedding dress made from chiffon, with floral silver and
glass beading.
 
It hugged Nicole’s
body as she walked, and was incredibly comfortable and form fitting, yet still
romantic and elegant.

“It looks as if we’d spent years making
alterations,” Liz said, clapping her hands.
 
“You just have the perfect body to carry
off this dress.
 
I’m simply amazed.”

Nicole was honored that Liz Eastman
seemed so happy with how it looked on her.
 

“Now I must find hair and makeup,” Liz
said.
 
“Give me one moment.”

“Excuse me, did you just say hair and
makeup?” Nicole called out, as Liz hurried from the bungalow.

Nicole was sitting in an incredibly
expensive wedding gown and starting to sweat.
 
She wondered where Red was and what he
had in store for her next.
 
It was
all too much.

And yet she had an enormous smile on her
face because it was actually perfect, and she couldn’t have asked for more.

About ten minutes later, Liz Eastman
returned to the room with another woman.
 
Apparently she was a very successful and sought after stylist who had a
chic salon in Belize that catered to the very wealthy tourists.
 

Her name was Angela, and together, she
and Liz went to work making Nicole into the very definition of a perfect
bride—styling her hair, applying makeup, tweaking her dress and her
appearance from moment to moment.
 

She felt like a living doll.
 

By the time they were done with her,
nearly two hours had elapsed and they both seemed conscious that they needed to
get her out the door.

“Where am I going?” she asked.

“Everything is taken care of.
 
But we need to go,” Liz explained.

They walked her out the door of her
bungalow and that’s when Nicole’s breath was taken away.
 
A long, beautiful white carpet had been
laid out from the door of the bungalow, all the way to the beach and almost to
the ocean edge itself.
 
There were
rose petals strewn along the white runner.
 
Standing at the end of it, right by the water, was a small group of
people.

Nicole was laughing and crying.

“Here, take these and walk to your
husband,” Liz whispered, handing Nicole a bouquet of flowers.

Music had begun softly playing.
 
There were two violinists, a cellist,
and a guitarist nearby, playing
Pachelbel’s Canon
as she walked down the isle.

Nicole was shaking her head in sheer awe
of the situation.
 
Red was standing
in his black tuxedo, waiting for her at the end of the isle.
 
Standing next to him was a tall, older
gentleman in a gray suit.
 
He had a
small book in his hands and Nicole knew he must be the minister.

But standing just to the side of them
were the only other two witnesses to the ceremony.

Danielle and Kane were there, as if
they’d stepped into her dream.
 
Danielle was wearing a gorgeous, violet gown, and Kane was wearing one
of his dapper blue suits.

Somehow Red had gotten this all together
for her—she didn’t know how he’d managed it.
 
And she couldn’t believe he’d been so
gracious as to allow Kane Wright to be there for something so intimate.

But then again, Red loved her, and maybe
that was all there really was to it.

Nicole smiled at Danielle and Danielle
smiled back at her with tears in her eyes.

Even Kane Wright, normally as cold as
steel, was emotional.
 
He grinned
and blinked and she knew he was holding back the water works himself.

Finally, she reached Red and the two of
them held hands, staring into one another’s eyes.

The minister took a breath and stood
before them, opening his book.
 
“We’re here on the beautiful day, in this tropical paradise, to witness
something special between two people.
 
I know that it’s special, because when I spoke with Red a few days ago,
he explained what this ceremony meant to him.
 
We had a long, surprisingly candid
conversation about his life and the woman who came into his world and exacted a
profound and moving change upon him.”
 
The minister paused and looked at his tiny audience.

Red squeezed Nicole’s hands and she
squeezed back, a recognition that they were in this together.
 
His eyes were as kind and loving as ever,
and Nicole knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that he would love her forever and
she would love him back.

“Now we are here to help Red and Nicole
enter into a sacred commitment, a lifetime commitment to honor and cherish one
another through their spiritual growth as human beings.
 
From Red’s poignant description to me, I
know that their journey has already been undertaken, and that both of them are
looking forward to taking the next steps as man and wife.
 
So let us begin.”

The minister looked at Red now.
 
“Do you, Red Jameson, take Nicole Masters
to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward,
for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until
death do you part?”

“I do.”
 
Red said it with conviction, looking
into Nicole’s eyes without wavering in the slightest.

The minister turned to Nicole and
repeated the vow for her.
 
“I do,”
she replied.

“Please bring forward the rings,” the
minister stated.

Danielle walked over and presented the
rings.
 

The minister smiled.
 
“Now place this ring on her finger, and
say, “With this ring, I thee wed.””
 

 
Red placed the ring on Nicole’s finger
and said the words.
 
The band was a
platinum band inlaid with diamonds, and it glittered on her finger.
 
She nearly lost her breath when she saw
it.

“And now your turn, Miss Masters,” the
minister told her.

Danielle passed a simple gold band to
Nicole, and then she slipped it on Red’s ring finger, saying, “with this ring,
I thee wed.”

“I now pronounce you husband and wife.
 
Please kiss the bride.”

And then Red did kiss her, and although
they’d kissed so many times before, this time truly was different.
 
Nicole hadn’t realized that it would
actually feel this way, but she was now being kissed by her husband.
 
Red Jameson was truly and actually her
husband.

It was official.

***

Later that night, in a state of utter
post-wedding bliss, Nicole could only seem to recall flashes of the previous
hours spent celebrating with Red and Danielle and Kane.

Red kissing her on the beach as Danielle
and Kane hooted and clapped.

The four of them on a coastal boat ride
as the sun dipped in the sky, drinking champagne and toasting to love and life
and friendship.

Danielle and Nicole laughing with each
other as they watched their husbands try and go shot for shot with each other
at the bar on the beach.

Dancing with the tourists and locals as
the sun set and the music played and Nicole and Red held each other close,
sometimes swaying to their very own rhythm.

Finally, bidding goodnight to the two
people who’d shared this special day with them, Nicole and Red came back to
their little island hideaway, craving one another’s bodies, craving each
other’s touch.

Nicole was hot and sweaty from a day of
celebration, and she’d changed from her beautiful wedding dress into tiny
shorts and a bikini top.
 
Red was
also in shorts, and a black t-shirt that hugged his muscular frame.

The little bungalow was dark and muggy,
and Nicole was certain that their skin would be sticky and hot and slippery
when they finally lay close together in bed.

“You made this day perfect for me,” she
whispered, lying across the satin sheets as he took off his sandals and came
towards her, climbing onto the bed and pulling her to him, greedy for her as
always.